Community Question is a category inspired by you. Here and there readers write in with questions that are better served by the varied, experiential knowledge of those who read and contribute in the comments.

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The following question is from Bob F.

“I teach 7th and 8th grade Social Studies in Toledo, OH. I have some good craft projects for my 7th graders who study more world history, but my 8th graders see what the younger kids do, and they say,”Why can’t we do fun stuff like them?” So I am writing to you to ask if you have some suggestions. I have the kids for 40 minutes right now, 5 days a week, and we study U.S. History in 8th grade. Next year, that time should lengthen to almost an hour. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Despite the fact that I teach public school, I acknowledge that in some situations, homeschooling is actually superior, because of the freedom you have to make any activity a learning experience.”

Do you have any fun suggestions for Bob’s 8th grade U.S. History class?

103 Comments and 17 Replies

1

kellymarie On Thursday, March 8 at 6:04 am

Bob F.. Welcome and I can share a activity that our homeschool group does…
We have a database, that has 4 historical moments and your familie(your students) would sign up under that, to give an oral report..ITs broken up so each person gets a lil piece of the action.. We have; costumes, music, food of the time of place & period, We let the younger kids read from their papers and the older ones, memorize more..We make it fun, so that THEY enjoy the experience, not just for a”grade”.. For example, right now, ours is: AMerican Revoultion, War of 1812, Civil War and World War 2…. You could have kids gather in groups, work on a different part of that time, and come up with something creative to display their knowledge…

I was just going to suggest that very thing Kelly! We did something similar to that when I was in Jr. High. It was really funny walking around all day in “costume” and then in class our group for the day would bring in a popular food of the period to share and we’d have an important historical figure give some highlights on the topic being discussed.
As a teacher you could dress up as the current President and direct the activities of the day for that class in character. It’s a riot and you might be surprised how into it some kids get.

We also did field trips to an old single room school house (when I was in 3rd-4th grade) that was local and had class taught in that school with old Primers and personal chalkboards. We were asked to bring lunch in pails and try to not use any “conveinence foods”.
The school house I’m referring to is Collins School house: http://www.yellow-springs.k12.oh.us/ys-mls/collins_school.htm I’m sure in Toledo you must have something similar to this.

2

Ann On Thursday, March 8 at 6:07 am

Bob, Google and Pinterest should be your best friends. Every time I see a neat project directed by a teacher and I comment on it, their response is, “The Internet is my best friend!”
Kudos to continually trying to improve your teaching and to make learning interesting for your students!

3

LauraL On Thursday, March 8 at 7:03 am

Games and field trips – those can energize your classroom. Even if you only play a game for 10-15 minutes at the end of class, they will look forward to it throughout the whole class. Teams are better than individuals and try to build in some randomness or element of luck for the weaker or less-confident student. Adding a physical action to the games will help some students – usually the middle school boys – stay more engaged. Good luck!

4

cheri On Thursday, March 8 at 7:26 am

Depending on the time period of the history being studied, a hands on approach to researching and demonstration of the people and their jobs during that time period.
For example, during the time around the Revolutionary war people held jobs like cordwainer -shoemaker, lorimer – someone who made horse’s bits, •Besom-maker: Broom maker. The lists are extensive, so there will be many opportunities even for a large class to pick an occupation, research and perhaps “live out” in some way, demonstrate and learn life from that time period.

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carole On Thursday, March 8 at 7:36 am

What a great subject to get to teach to young learners! To me one of the most important things they can come away with is the knowledge that American history is not the past, but is still unfolding and they are part of the story.

You didn’t say what the focus of your classes are (there is so much to cover) but interactive lessons are so much fun. How about a long term project involving family genealogy? Being able to place ones forebears in history and seeing the places one’s of families has lived across they United States can be a great way to participate in our county’s history. Have your students start a “My Place in American History” journal, where they can chronicle their search, paste pictures and maps, and write about what they have learned from talking to relatives about what they remember about their family. If you have students who families include recent immigrants, what a great lesson to talk about why America is called a ‘melting pot.’

Of all the important things one can learn from or about American history, understanding our constitution seems to be fundamental to who we are as a country. Work on building a great curriculum around that. (You can order constitutions from the government for 30¢ each in batches of 100). Specify one day a week as Constitution Day and build your class around that. By stretching the study out over the whole year, it will be something you comeback to over and over, upping the chances your students will remember it long after they have moved on. Have debates on each amendment, talking about what it means to have specific rights in the constitution, and what it would mean if they were absent. Start a current event’s folder where issues addressed in the constitution might be applicable and discuss how our constitution addresses this event. Have students propose some amendments, and talk about the pros and cons of those amendments.

Spend time addressing the responsibilities of citizenship. Take the test required to become a naturalized citizen. Take on a civic project to highlight the idea everyone working together towards a common goal makes for positive communities.

Spend time discussing how elections work, why it is important to vote, etc. If there are elections in your area, try to get a sample ballot and allow students to ‘vote’. Have students offer brief arguments for or against bills. Tabulate results. If your elections happen to cover taxes or levies, talk about those and what it means to pass or not pass those kinds of bills.

Talk about taxes. Help your students understand all the taxes their parents are responsible for paying in your area. Help them understand the necessity of paying taxes, but also the necessity of local, state and federal officials being responsible with those taxes. Use pretzels or some other inexpensive treat to demonstrate how taxes work. Pretzels will represent income for students. After they have their pretzels, start having them “pay” their taxes to the government. Help them determine what percentage goes where. Collect the “taxes” in city, state, government piles. Talk about how those taxes will be used by governments. Have someone representing those entities come talk to the kids about taxes.

Create a year by year timeline of American history. Assign each student several years (ie1909, 1919,1929,1939,1949, etc) to come up with facts (not reports) of events happening in those years. Build your timeline along a wall and see history unfold. It is so cool to see history “live” in this way.

Pick one really good book to read on a particular historic theme to your students throughout the year. Read a few minutes each day. Your students will get caught up in the unfolding drama, and look forward to hearing about the next part of the story. Use it to draw the analogy that history is still unfolding and they have the same opportunity to participate that the characters in the book do. There are so many good books. Pick something that goes along with a theme you’d like to emphasize during the year.

Speaking of books, build a great library of American history books for reference in your classroom. Encourage students to use them for research. The internet is great, but looking through books gives you a whole different view of research.

Veterans Day is November 11. Plan a small program that invites several local veterans to your class to honor. Have a classroom map available and have the veterans mark on the map the places they have served. Perhaps you could have your students arrange interview questions. Create a “wall of honor/” Photograph your veteran friends and post them on the Wall of Honor. End the event with punch and cookies.

Have fun teaching your students! What a great honor to be able to engage them in such an important subject.

Kellymarie On Thursday, March 8 at 8:27 am

Love Carole ideas…

Kimberly On Thursday, March 8 at 9:09 am

I agree with some of your ideas, but not the family genealogy one.

Believe it or not, some people actually do not have a clear family tree and might not want to pay a website a lot of money per month to figure it all out. Some people have a clear family tree and might be embarrassed at their family history — not everybody can trace their great-great-great-great grandparents back to something innocent like a candlestick maker in 1830 in Massachusetts.

Family genealogy is really interesting to some people and I totally understand that. But some others may not be interested and may not want to share their family history. Making this part of a school assignment might put some students in a very awkward position.

Cher On Thursday, March 8 at 9:53 am

I agree with Kimberly about the family tree. When we did ours for a home school project we discovered that my husbands’ grandparents were in the KKK. Their particular branch wasn’t opposed to blacks, they were burning crosses on Catholic peoples’ lawns. It made for an awkward discussion with my MIL…

Jennifer B On Thursday, March 8 at 10:47 am

ALL of us have family histories. Some have the history that only goes back as far as our parents. Some have histories that go back hundreds of years.

There is much to be learned in what we _don’t_ know just as much in what we know. There is history in having lost family records do to sudden relocations, wars, divorce and death. That’s part of the lesson. No-one needs to pay the archive companies to benefit from lessons like this. The accomplishment isn’t in how far back you can research a family, but it’s in the effort of learning what you can and can’t find out….

There are ways to incorporate family history into learning that still preserves some privacy. How about a pin on a map for every place the kids on the classroom know they had family members live? That can be done without divulging who had what, how much nasty history there might be etc.

I would encourage the use of geneology still in classrooms. I did it as a kid, my daughter has done it twice already (and she’s only in 5th grade), and the sharing among the kids about what they learned has been incredible. In my daughter’s class it was done along with an “immigration” unit where they learned about Ellis island and the immigration experience of the late 1800′s.

Kimberly On Thursday, March 8 at 12:12 pm

The pin on the map idea sounds like a really great way to incorporate family genealogy with history in a way that preserves privacy.

I just think that sometimes so much emphasis is placed on genealogy and that might have the unintended consequence of making a student feel awkward if they do not have anything to share.

Perhaps this is just a personal preference of mine, but I just wanted to point out that not every will be super comfortable trotting in their family tree.

6

Charity On Thursday, March 8 at 7:38 am

When I was in middle school we had a teacher that teamed us up & each group created our own imaginary island. We created it’s government, natural resources, history, religion, military & culture. It was such a fun project. It was really interesting to see what the other groups came up with as well.

K On Thursday, March 8 at 5:36 pm

What a great idea!!! Love it! Sounds like a great teacher. The fact that you remember this speaks volumes!

7

Tisha On Thursday, March 8 at 7:51 am

I think most any hands-on experience will help them to learn. One great thing I found is jeopardy – break them up into teams and have them play. You can get power point jeopardy games in almost any subject.

Jeopardy was always my favorite game to play in school! A lot of teachers used it as a way to prepare us for a test. I even had one teacher buy buzzers so we could “chime in” just like on real Jeopardy!

Kailee B On Thursday, March 8 at 1:19 pm

I have had several classes use jeopardy. High school and college. Some had actual buzzers. I think the one class used a website where you can create your own jeopardy game. Its fun and competitive so it keeps you interested. I think the winning team got some extra credit or something.

8

Dawn On Thursday, March 8 at 8:01 am

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com has fabulous History resorces. My middle schoolers loved their Time Travelers series. Doing timelines helped them to “put it all together”. The timeline illustrations that can be printed and colored are not “babyish” and the older kids really like how “professional” they look.
Now that they are in school, rather than being homeschooled, they continue to work on some of the activities as hobbies. Never thought I’d see that! My younger girls (still homeschooled) are looking forward to being “old enough” to do the Time Travelers too. Amy Pak (founder of homeschoolinthewoods) has done an amazing job. My son is looking forward to doing the new WWII program this summer- yes-this summer!

9

Rebecca On Thursday, March 8 at 8:09 am

I don’t have any specific ideas, my kids aren’t that old yet. But what I remember making history, and literature for that matter, interesting in middle school and jr high was learning about “real” people. I had some teachers that did this well and others that didn’t even seem to try. George Washington, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln are iconic so it seems hard for kids to feel like they can get to know them. They just learn about them. But learning what Sally or John did in Jamestown or Revolutionary Boston along with all those important people and events can make it come alive, and better yet, trying to do some of the things that Sally did. I think this can really be true for girls because so many history classes seem to be war centered and girls are more interested in the social issues, especially on the cusp of becoming young women. Let boys dive into learning about the details of the wars, and girls too of course. Yes, I think you are on the right track. History needs to come alive for your students. Just learning the facts, writing essays and taking tests doesn’t make it stick for this age group.

I agree! For history to come alive to your class, they have to somehow experience the lives of these real people. Biographies, diaries, historical fiction, reenactments of historical events, field trips, videos, group or class challenges, games, multisensory projects, guest speakers…there are so many ways you can engage your students so that they FEEL the history and don’t just hear names and dates. Best wishes!!

10

Sherri On Thursday, March 8 at 8:21 am

When I was that age, I always enjoyed game type activities. A board with Jeopardy style questions might be fun, or a history relay race, or anything along those lines.

Since you are a guy type, you might not know about Pinterest, but the ladies above are correct. It is a veritable gold mine of ideas.

11

Cecilie On Thursday, March 8 at 8:25 am

Any hands-on projects will help. Kids are so used to having their motor skills (i.e., texting, computers, etc.) involved that learning plans have to include activities that use motor skills. When I was doing my student teaching (in American history), I used a lot of games based on history and society. Small group challenges (How would the U.S. be different if Abraham Lincoln hadn’t been assassinated?) help them think creatively, and the small groups can exchange ideas with each other. I believe everyone has a spark hidden inside them to learn about the past (okay, I’m a history lover!), but with the right enthusiastic teacher, those sparks can be found and fanned into flames. Best of luck!

12

Kathleen K On Thursday, March 8 at 8:29 am

I love the ideas posted here and will try to use some of them for our American History homeschool next year.

One thought I had which will require more effort on your part, Bob, is to have individualized special projects–each student must participate in a special project. But–allow the students to develop their project based on individual strengths. Acting out a scene from American history, demonstrating an old (forgotten) craft, researching and reporting on a forgotten person, carrying on a debate (Lincoln and Douglas come to mind, as do pro/against abortion), preparing a media presentation, have a team come up with questions for a Jeopardy class session, the options are limited only by what can be graded! Would your district allow Saturday (optional) fieldtrips? By going on Saturdays the students don’t miss their other classes.

This has nothing to do with me, since I’m Brazilian, didn’t go to school in the US, and don’t have kids. BUT, a dear friend of mine has 2 daughters (13 &15y) who have an amazing History teacher. As I understood, one thing he likes to do is ask them to write a short story about an event in US history, using the correct historic information, but find a way to include themselves in the text. Recently, he also asked them to write about an important event in one of the political parties and, again, to include themselves in the story. The girls are actually in love with history now…

So, going even further, maybe you could ask them to write some kind of short play to present in class? Or to film and post on YouTube? Hope it helps!

One of my most memorable projects was the biography project in 7th grade. Our teacher gave us a list of politicians, royalty, scientists, thinkers, etc for the time period we were studying (early-modern Europe) and we each picked one. We had to research the person, and then write a journal with 5 or 6 entries as the character. Then we presented in costume or with props, one of our journal entries to the class. I’m fairly certain we had to turn in a reference list as well and I remember spending a lot of time in the library working on the project.

In high school my AP US history class did something similar, but with obscure moments in history. I did my project on the women’s anti-suffrage movement in the late 19th century. We did a powerpoint, a paper, and we had to create some sort of game or puzzle for the class to do (like a fun handout) that would also serve as a study aid for the AP test.

Virginia On Thursday, March 8 at 8:48 am

Our school linked history and literature: when they were studying a particular period or event they also had a list of books written during or about it and students could make presentations or reports on the reading they had done. For more recent history (Vietnam, the space race, etc.) they could collect oral histories from people who had lived during those times to share with the class.

17

MrsG On Thursday, March 8 at 8:50 am

I taught High School World History last year and once again was amazed how much the students enjoyed any hands on projects or assignments. Not only do they have more fun but most importantly, they will probably never forget what they learned from it because as we know: the more of the 5 senses you use, the more the student (no matter what age) will learn.
While I worked on my Lesson Plans, I would try to incorporate as much of this idea as possible rather than just reading the chapter and completing the section quiz included in textbooks. We did things like: **Making our own Newspaper for a specific time period in history; each student wrote an article, **An Itinerary of a trip they’d take (they chose the place, the activities, the time period, etc). This itinerary had to include every detail of every day. The students really enjoyed this one. **Have colored pencils, markers, construction paper, glue, etc, and ask each student to illustrate the lesson (i.e. what would their personal wagon look like if they were on the Oregon Trail). **Each student chose a person from history they admired and wrote about them, then presented to the class their findings and what they had learned from this person’s life. **Students selected a country or era in history and we had a presentation day in which we had something like a banquet, where they each brought food from that country/era and they each had a chance to talk about what impressed them the most about what they chose. **I made up a schedule and assigned each student a section of different chapters and they were responsible to teach that section to the whole class. I gave them a criteria by which their grade would be based so they knew exactly what was expected of them. This was their favorite activity of the year. Some of them were impressed that they could actually teach and do it well, especially those with lower self-esteem. I would highly recommend this. These are just a few of the things we did, but you get the idea.

My Dad was a history teacher for many years before moving on to be a principal. I still have people approach me and tell me that he was their favorite teacher. He loves history and was determined to show the kids a good time while he taught. One idea he had was for the teacher to dress as a character from a certain period. The kids could ask questions pertaining to that period all throughout the day, as he would stay in character throughout the entire school day.

Also, when he was teaching about the Oregon Trail, he set up stations for the kids to go through. They could choose any station and study on it more and do research papers about it. There was a botany station where the kids would try to figure out what plants those on the Oregon Trail would have encountered, listing Latin names and making drawings. There was a map station, where the kids had to map the trail. A film station had the kids making short skits about being on the Oregon Trail. A design station had the kids writing about and sketching clothing found during that period. Kids could write about what forms of transportation one had on the trail. He even had a language station, where the kids had to research what languages they may have encountered on the Oregon Trail and write down some words from the language (usually Native American).

Makes me kind of wish I had had my dad for history! Good luck!

K On Saturday, March 10 at 8:29 am

Wow! What a great teacher your Dad was! Sounds like his students were fortunate to have such a thoughtful teacher. My own children had some of the experiences listed in these comments, it makes me sad to hear some of the bad rap teachers receive. My children went to public elementary, private high schools and had some of the most wonderful teachers, we still maintain contact with many of them today.
I would love to see more focus on what teachers are doing RIGHT than constantly be ripped. Not every teacher is perfect, when I look back, my children had many positive experiences, I a grateful for their caring approach, professionalism and dedication.

19

Summer On Thursday, March 8 at 9:01 am

I teach 8th grade social studies, US History 1800-1900 and our state history. By far the best stuff I do comes from others…. network yourself and create your own Personal Learning Network. For me, I have found Twitter to be the quickest, easiest way to get connected. You can search for social studies teachers and follow them. Many great organizations such as TeachingHistory.org and several education institutions are on Twitter. Because we teach in isolated classrooms, we have to get out there – virtually or physically. Nearly all my great lessons that really engage students have come from others – teachers down the hall, across town, and now from my PLN – across the world.
I also have to say that in the digital age we live in, using authentic, real technology is engaging for all students. Let them create things – blogs, wikis, tweets, etc. This is the world they live in, so why should school not be a place to use the world they live in to teach them?

We are studying colonial times/early american history right now, too. We are using ‘homeschool through the woods’ for my younger boys, but some of the projects are so fun i’m having my middle schooler do them, too. recently they wrote with quill pens + ink, made rope ‘beds’ and sewed straw-filled mattresses for them, and today we’re hoping to do some of the fun/games of the day, like silhouettes.
good luck!
here’s a link to the program we’re using – they are good with working with co-ops/schools.http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TTS/ColonialLife.htm

I agree, there are positives and negatives to both public school and homeschool. In a perfect world, I wish I could split the week in half and do both. It would provide my children with both advantages, but the world is not perfect and I’m afraid I’m not brave enough or patient enough to tackle homeschooling.

I have recently completed a few ‘pioneer craft’ projects with our local youth group (Ages 13-14) girls. In southern Utah we have a strong tie to Mormon pioneers and their travels out west, but I’ve found many of the youth really enjoy learning how children in their age-group entertained themselves in the late 1800′s.

If you have any further questions, I would love to share the ideas with you! I love history!

22

Lisa B. On Thursday, March 8 at 9:07 am

How wonderful for you, and thank you for the job you do! There are lots of hands-on things I think we can do to make history more alive and tangible for our kids, so they can connect WITH it and see that they are a part OF it, that we can make these past events real to them and let them know the small people who turned the world upside down were real people just like them (longest sentence ever!

-Family Genealogy – America is made of immigrants, let them dig to see where their people came from and why they came to America, extra points for how far back they can go, and maybe try and find someone in their family who did something amazing (no matter how big or small). Encourage the digging, bring in family artifacts to share and why those items might have been passed down, or even newspaper clippings with old pictures, and everyone can share their findings with the class.

-History through Music – kids love their tunes, broaden their tastes and perspective through music, playing songs from different eras each day and discuss how culture moves music and how music moves culture. Use examples of classical music to show what sort of technology was available to make musical instrument and maybe what different types of “early” music was preferred by different classes and why (and world music from different countries would fit well here too). Show them how disco died with the synthesized-based technology boom of the 1980′s and wrap it into a Reganomics lesson. Use examples of war-era music (pick a war, any war) to show how societal woes went directly into the style and lyrics of that era, or use the 60′s and 70′s to show how the push for civil rights or reactions to Vietnam shaped an entire culture of music – give them lyric sheets for them to analyze like poetry to help them sort out the social situations of the time period (and kids LOVE it when they get to listen to music in class Let them research and bring in their OWN music and share with everyone why they think a particular song is representative of a time period/event/culture etc. You might end up with a Beach Boys song depicting the care-free car culture of the ’50s or you might get a Britney Spears song that they think embodies the sexual freedom of young women – you never know, but it’s pretty amazing what they come up with…

-Dress-up days – Depending on what era/event you’re teaching, do dress-up Fridays (extra points for kids come to school and stay dressed that way all day long Girls love finding Colonial bonnets and flapper dresses and boys love stealing their dads’ suspenders and John Lennon glasses, or finding newsboy hats or bellbottoms in their attics (afro wigs are a pretty fun to see on a 12-year-old

-Old-fashioned school day – with a big build-up to the days of the one-room school-house, this one is a hit if you can pull it off (we transformed the classroom to just wooden benches where kids had to use slate tablets and chalk, complete with boys using wooden nickels they decorated themselves to bid on the lunch baskets the girls made and brought in). We even had an old MacGuffey reader we used to as our lesson plan to show the kids what and how the kids were taught back then, and ended the day with some good old-fashioned candle-making, and the kids got to take their candles home.

-Dart-days – have the kids throw a dart at a board (that you make) to choose their own projects or the next lesson plan – the board could be a world map and wherever the dart lands, that country/city is what you’ll explore. It could also be a giant wheel (think wheel of fortune) that wherever it stops could be a year/event to explore. The kids like throwing the darts at, say, a different American state and then researching that state’s history, and they love spinning the wheel to see if they will come up with The Titanic or King Tut. The kids love the interactive part of actively choosing their own projects (good way to randomly split the kids into groups too), and you still have control (by making the wheel/board) of what lessons from which they choose. We also made a different wheel together as a class at the end of the year (upon suggestions of the kids) for what we do as a class (we had some good ones like extra credit spins, pizza party, movie day, and even WHAT “historical” movie to watch

-History Bingo – we made Bingo cards with key words/people/events/years on them and the teacher asks a leading question and the kids put their marker on their cards over the correct answer until they get Bingo (rewards of your choosing). Some of the questions were the actions of a particular historical figure named on the card or you could name historical figures that they have to name the particular even with which that figure was associated – you can tailor it anyway you want and the kids love playing a game in class.
Those are a few off the top of my head, if I think of any more, I’ll come back. Hope that helps with some ideas…

23

Taryn On Thursday, March 8 at 9:12 am

Not a teacher, homeschooler, or even a parent. But, I did have an amazing public middle school social studies teacher. In 7th grade we played a middle east game, where each group was a assigned a city to represent. There was a giant game board you had to get to the end of, and as you moved across the board there were different assignments/tasks you had to complete. The end of the game occurred when all the groups that made it to the end (and my teacher definitely cheated to make sure everyone made it) competed in a game of jeopardy to decide the winner. In 8th grade, we played the civil war game. It was more of an individual game, with each person assigned a different historical person to play, including General Grant (myself) and General Lee. There were journaling assignments as your character, different assignments as “battles” and I distinctly remember having our teacher give a “spy” a phrase to plant amongst the Union army members. When we figured out who it was, we had to do research and hold a trial of the spy. Needless to say, we all loved these games. I’m sure it’s curriculum you buy, but it was definitely awesome, and our teacher put his own touches on it all.

24

Betsy On Thursday, March 8 at 9:13 am

I also thought of Amy Pak’s material…it’s really good.

Also, just to throw this out there (it requires a lot of work and all-school participation)–when I was in middle school we actually had a full-on political convention, tied in with Student Council elections. We were divided into fifty states, elected delegates, kids “ran” for their positions, etc. We did a lot of study on the roots and workings of our political system with all of this. At the end of the whole thing, we had a convention (maybe just the 8th graders? I don’t remember), where the different states filed in, cast their votes, etc. It was amazing, and something we looked forward to as 8th graders. I could easily hook you up with the teacher that ran it–he’s still in the area, and a friend of my family.

I also give you kudos for working extra to improve the classroom experience. My dad was a jr. high, then high school history teacher for 30 years.

25

Aunt Dee On Thursday, March 8 at 9:20 am

Our 5th graders always did a Revolutionary War living “wax museum.” If your kids haven’t previously done something similar, you could do the same for any historical period, and bump up the quality to bring it to 8th grade. Each student is assigned/selects a figure, researches the person, creates a costume (I can make a mean wig out of cotton batting!), and writes a speech. They all gather in the media center, which is appropriately swagged in red, white and blue bunting, and pose “frozen” as their character. When a parent or the other students file thru the museum, they can touch a character’s hand, which is the cue for him/her to come to life and give their speech.

Joy G On Thursday, March 8 at 11:06 am

I was on faculty at a school where they did a wax museum as well. It was quite well done, and the students loved it. It was the most talked about project in the school. Not only did the other classes walk through the “museum”, but the school invited the community to attend as well.
I remember when I was in 8th grade, our project was to do a presentation on one of the Presidents or First Ladies. We were required to dress up as the person and give a 3-5 minute speech that included important events/things that happened in their lives. I chose Lady Bird Johnson. Loved it.

Patti Rabbit On Thursday, March 8 at 11:41 am

The school in my hometown did a similar wax museum, but they used real people that developed their town. They researched past relatives or politicians or business owners, or Indians or war veterans, who had lived in their town. Each student chose one and researched their lives, from town records, living relatives, and wrote an essay about them. Then at the annual town festival, they dressed as those people and stood in the graveyard by their tombstones ( or made fake tombstones) and when people came up to their gravesite, they would give a soliliquy about their lives. Some had actual clothing from those people or a chair or handkerchief from that era. We look forward to it each year.

I would strongly suggest that you contact your local chapters or societies of Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution, Children of the American Revolution, Sons of the Revolution and/or any other similar organization in your area.
DAR has annual essay and scholarship contests which are horribly underutilized.
These organizations may have contests or activities in which your students can participate (what boy wouldn’t like to take part in a re enactment of an important battle?) that would be fun, increase their independant study skills and deepen their interest in history…. or at least distract them enough that they won’t know they’re learning while having fun!!!

May I add, that my daughter’s 5th grade teacher did a “living museum” where each student chose a Revolutionary War Hero, researched their background and contributions to the Revolutionary War, did a trifold display, a report on the person, then dressed up as that person complete with props – and the whole school came to the museum and asked questions. The student/hero had to stay in character the entire time. Giggles were abundant and the kids did well.

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Carla in Austin On Thursday, March 8 at 9:21 am

A few things my daughter’s awesome teachers have done …

1. He took about 8 popular songs and had the students, in small groups, rewrite the lyrics to “teach” about a significant historical event. They then had to perform it in front of the class.

2. She, without warning, changed the class to a monarchy — enacting rules similar to what the US had before independence … the class was expected to band together and revolt.

3. They had to create a history “trailer” about 2 to 3 minutes long that covered a significant event — it consisted of pictures, voice over, music (either period or theatrical). It had to tell the story of the event, explain the significance, and ask a question.

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Becky On Thursday, March 8 at 9:25 am

My kids enjoy finding out on a daily basis…what happened today in history. There are websites that help with this. Also, like another said have a big in class library. I built mine from the Friends of the Library sales so picked up hardbacks for $1. For election years mine do a notebook and save articles, campaign memorabilia and get involved politically. Great keepsake for kids to have detailed information on the President they will have for four years of their childhood. This becomes part of their history.

I was always frustrated that I knew historical facts but I did not have them mentally ordered–so I determined my kids would have a better grasp of how things flowed.
Have them make a timeline where they plug in everything they read/learn about. A spiral notebook can work for that and just tape in a small graphic image with date and sentence about the entry. Family history is plugged in first. So in time they see things like which family member went through which war.

I have mine memorize the Presidents. Then when they are plugged into the timeline they can mentally have a base frame for American history–who was President during Lindbergh’s flight…so when they associate and even with President it helps them order it. Also, I had them memorize who was President in 1800, 1825,1850, 1875,1900, 1925, 1950, 1975, 2000

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Melissa A On Thursday, March 8 at 9:29 am

Thank you so much for your question! I enjoy reading the responses. A few things really helped me teach history to my children and bring the subject alive.

1) A newspaper project. My oldest (12, in 6th grade) had to create a newspaper from different periods during the Civil War. This really helped her understand the progression of the war because she had to detail the information to others. Part of the grade was making it as much like a real newspaper as possible, so she included things like advertisements for goods popular at the time, entertainment reviews, and a Classifieds section. This helped her understand more of what life was like daily at that time.

2) Try things like “this day in history.” I think kids (and adults, too) like small and quick information. We use the “This Day in Civil War History” app and my kids love it. I think there is something about one thing that happens in a day that helps anchor overall concepts.

Hope this section helps!

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Wendy On Thursday, March 8 at 9:50 am

How ’bout some love letters to a famous American person that incorporate the events that are happening at the time… That could be really fun. I have (I teach in public school, too) also divided them into teams, had them make a name for a magazine and they worked on a magazine that incorporated all the events at the time period we were studying, appropriate advertisements, fashion tips, art… They used computers and the products were absolutely incredible. Granted, I teach high school, but I can see 8th graders doing even more because they haven’t gotten so blase!

I would want to go somewhere warm, tropical and definitely some palm trees! Living here in the north, Maine, our summer season is very short. I love the winter months, snowmobiling, skiing and such but some years the cold hangs on till the end of May. So I guess I would chose Bermuda with their pink sand beaches and friendly people! Love ya PW!!!

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Kathy P On Thursday, March 8 at 9:58 am

I would head to the mountains or near the boundary waters for a week-long trek in the wilderness.

Melissa A On Thursday, March 8 at 4:18 pm

This is a great suggestion for a family!

But not a very practical one for a public school instructor. Planning a trip of this magnitude would take considerable effort on his part, if it is even feasible at all.

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Linda On Thursday, March 8 at 9:59 am

When I student taught in a US History class I had the kids work in teams to design a monument to a person or event. They had to produce a model of the monument, explain in a essay why they felt that person or event was monument worthy, and why they chose the materials, location and form for the monument. They then did a team presentation to the class. They really got into it, and we had some great projects.

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Sheryl H On Thursday, March 8 at 10:00 am

I hated history of any kind until I started doing genealogy. Suddenly everything had relevance. That made all the difference.

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Mary Beth On Thursday, March 8 at 10:00 am

I am also a teacher (5th grade). We teach United States History also. (Probably the introduction to what you do in 8th grade) I am a HUGE fan of role playing. My students really enjoy learning about the person, or job that they have. They then have the opportunity to share with others. We have debated from different points of view, written a bill and pushed it through our “legislation” and explored the difficulties that Native Americans and Explorers faced. We have also created timelines, acted as wax figures, and designed our own colonies. I think the hardest part is focusing them on research rather then chatting with their friends. Good Luck!

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Sabrina On Thursday, March 8 at 10:09 am

The best thing my 8th grade history class did was a full re-enactment of the continental congress. It got all students involved, we were all assigned an actual historical figure who was present at the congress. We were given a basic outline of their role, but were expected to do some supplemental research to be able to better fill our role during the re-enactment. Now to be fair, I love history, always did. I even went on to major in it in college…but this project/assignment that took a full week of our class was so amazing and so much fun!
**I suppose I should mention it was an honors history class. I dont know if that matters.**

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calimommi On Thursday, March 8 at 10:13 am

If you have access to a camcorder – have them make a mini movie! (There are free editing sites to help with the end product.)They’ll need to research for historical accuracy – costumes, props, story line. The credits become the bibliography. You can give them a specific event to re create or allow more freedom. Basically it is the traditional research paper paper presented in media.

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Stacy W-MN On Thursday, March 8 at 10:13 am

1st Kudos to Bob for trying to improve how teachers teach and interact with their students and also for wanting to go above and beyond the requirements of your teaching curriculum.

2nd (entry for give away)
My dream vacation would be to take my son to Richmond,KY to show him where is mothers southern roots come from. I would secondly like to take him to Germany to teach him about his German roots. Thirdly I would also like to take him to a poverty stricken area to show him how GOD has BLESSED us with a fortunate life and that no matter how much he thinks his life sucks (while he is growing up-future) there is ALWAYS someone who has it worse than you do :)Possibly get him to work in a soup kitchen/ homeless shelter as well to get in the habit of helping people less fortunate than you.

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Diane Cloutier On Thursday, March 8 at 10:16 am

First of all, thanks for such a great giveaway! My dream place is definitely Hawaii. My camera is so old, it might be considered an antique. Lol

So many places around the world I want to go, but I’m thinking it would Hawaii! Ps. LOVE that green one!

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Sue On Thursday, March 8 at 10:18 am

Have each of them research and find out all they can about one ancestor.

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Maryanne On Thursday, March 8 at 10:20 am

I used to teach 8th grade history. I am assuming that you are in U.S. history from the beginning to Reconstruction period?? If so, one activity that students truly enjoyed was creating their own broadsheets. We would put them into a group of 4, have them do some online research of events for the time period and then let their creativity flow when it came to “aging” the paper, typeset, etc. The only requirements were sticking to the time period and true format for the broadsheet. Also, there are websites where you can do web quests that will take them through events such as the ride of Paul Revere, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, etc. We even set up a sister class with a public school in Boston that took a field trip along the Freedom Trail, where they saw places such as the Old North Church, Paul Revere’s House,etc. They video taped their trip, talking to our class along the way explaining where they were, showing them what the buildings look like inside and out, reading the plaques out loud, etc. It was a great experience for them. In the end, the two classes had so much fun that our kids/their kids kept corresponding throughout the year. They even helped each other study for tests! Good luck!

To supplement our history studies recently, our local homeschool support group held an event called A Night of Living History. Each student, K-12, dressed in costume and one by one, in chronological order, stood in front of our group and spoke in first person about their particular character in history. Everyone learned a lot about each person presented, not to mention the great photo ops!

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Leslie L. On Thursday, March 8 at 10:50 am

2 ideas come to mind from my days in history classes. The first was from a coach that I had in high school for American history. We would play jeopardy on Fridays. He would take all the material that we had been working on that week and use that information for the questions – you had to study to be able to answer all the questions correctly. He would throw in a few just for fun questions along the way, but he made it so that we were learning in a fun way.
The second idea is from a Texas history class that I took in 7th grade. When my daughter got to 7th grade I shared this idea with her teacher and they did the same project that year – he loved the idea. The basic idea is that we had a year long project that we started at the beginning of school and was due the last six weeks of school – you could make it a shorter time frame if you want to. We were given a list of things about the State of Texas – state bird, flag, flower, motto, song, etc. – we had to write paragraphs about each thing and find pictures for them. We also had to get newspapers from around Texas and information about different land marks, etc. We also had to write about different leaders that were important in Texas history. We also had to put in 3 or 4 fun things about our state – sites to visit, places to go, etc. We had like 50 requirements that were in the project.
You could change this to American history – depending on your time frame that you are studying and have them get information about different land marks, battlefields, presidents, etc. and have them put it in their reports. There are tons of ways that you could incorporate what you are studying into this project. I learned alot from it and so did my daughter when she did it for her class.

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Rhonda On Thursday, March 8 at 11:00 am

Two fun tools are http://www.fakebook.com. The kids can create a “facebook” profile and page of a famous character, such as George Washington. Then everyone is assigned a personality of that time period and they post on George’s comments keeping in character and the current time frame.
Another use of technology is to have the kids create a “glog” at http://www.glogster.com. They can pretend to be a famous historical person or even cover an event in the past.
My students love to make movies and videos with their electronic devices. They could write a campaign speech for George Washington and make a political commercial. The can “text”a famous historical figures with questions and comments.
I find using what they know and like to do causes great excitement.

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TaKa On Thursday, March 8 at 11:05 am

8th grade history lesson I will never forget. We were learning about the civil war and discussed at great lengths one day how close you had to be to someone to fire a weapon and how battle strategy was so different then. “Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!” was the topic of discussion. The next day our teacher took outside to the playground and had us line up in two lines facing each other. We had to turn around and take 100 steps away from the other line. He then handed each of us a very small water balloon and let us loose. The one rule was you couldn’t “shoot” until you saw the whites of your opponents eyes. As it turns out, over half the class chickend out and ran for the hills. Very powerful discussion outside on the playground when that event was over.

Now, every time I see a war movie or tv show based on that time period I always remember how close they had to be to each other to fight and how you could actually see your opponents face. Not like war today.

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Patty Matteo On Thursday, March 8 at 11:07 am

If i could travel anywhere in the world i think I’d like to go to someplace tropical, like Hawaii.

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Kristi B On Thursday, March 8 at 11:09 am

One of the only things I remember from 8th grade was playing Oregon Trial, from what I remember is was kind of role playing and picking up cards with scenarios on them and having to work as a team to “surivive” by the choices we made.

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Wendy P On Thursday, March 8 at 11:14 am

In a former life, I was a middle school language arts teacher and we used to create cereal box book reports. Instead of the traditional book report format with a summary, the kids would take the different features of their favorite box of cereal and make a custom one on a cereal box. On the front would be an illustration from a scene of the book, the back would be a game like a crossword puzzle, the sides would include ingredients and nutritional facts using the main characters, setting, bibliography, author information, etc. The kids loved bringing in their projects and sharing their boxes. You could adapt this to a historical event or a biography of a historical character. I could probably resurrect my handout on it, if you want to shoot me an email…

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Dina On Thursday, March 8 at 11:21 am

Bob, I would suggest contacting a local archival repository/historical society to see if there is some way to work something from their collection into one (or more!!) of your lesson plans. I can’t think of a better way to turn students on to history than to SHOW them history, rather than tell them!

Another thought – give them an assignment that they can enter into a National History Day competition? I have served as a judge and it is so exciting to see how enthusiastic these students are about their findings! http://www.nhd.org/

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lyndap On Thursday, March 8 at 11:32 am

I always liked to offer options to my students…you could do a unit ending “report” but the report could come in one of several forms and one of several topics. For example: a power-point presentation on clothing from one student, a self-generated play about a certain historical event from another group of students, a “newspaper” about a certain time period printed by the class, a written report about jobs and education through American history from that student that doesn’t like to get up in front of the class, etc, wax museum of important figures in US history…gives the teacher an opportunity to address the strengths of their students and allows the other students to learn something from their classmates.

This Ozark Farm Chick is retired Special Ed. and sure wish we’d had the world at our fingertips back in the early days like ya’ll do now. Ya can feed of Goggle and Pinterest for a heap of fantastic ideas to make your classroom a livin’ history lesson. :o)

I’m sure before ya know it you’ll be knee deep in excellent ideas for projects and costumes for the most awesome history class ever!!!!

Woohoo Man, let us know how it goes. :o)

From the happy hills and hollers of the beautiful Missouri Ponderosa, ya’ll have a blessed and beautiful day!!!

7&8th Grade….your a brave man!!! Heeehehehehe!!!!

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deannab1 On Thursday, March 8 at 11:34 am

I teach 8th grade US History and twice a year I do simulations with them – one for Independence and another for the Civil War. You should check out the website – http://www.interact-simulations.com/. They LOVE these. They get to debate, earn fake money, and it really immerses them in not only the historical events, but also the culture. I’ve done these with small classes (20-25), but this year I have 39(!) kids in one class and it was just as successful as it was with the small group. They’re fairly inexpensive (I buy one class set and make copies) and they really motivate the kids. Good luck!

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Kelly On Thursday, March 8 at 11:45 am

I’d love to go to New Zealand. The green mountains, the waterfalls, the ocean. Ahhhh….

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Sandy On Thursday, March 8 at 11:50 am

If you need to have students remember dates, people or facts. I saw a fun game in class the other day. On index cards write: “I am…..” and put the name or fact on the card and then on the other side of the card write “I am looking for …..” and write the definition of another word on the other side. Give students one (or two cards) and have everyone stand up. Have one student start by reading the front of their card and then they read the back. The person who has the word they read the definition on their card (front first, then the back) and this continues until all the cards are read. As the students read their cards, they sit down. Make sure they read nice and loud so everyone can hear. If you have multiple classes, the classes like to be timed to see which class is the fastest in getting through this activity. It teaches them the word and the definition or time period or whatever you are studying. Example: “I am cat”. (front of card). “I am looking for rodent with stiff, sharp quills.” (back of card). That student sits down and another student says “I am porcupine. I am looking for small mammal have a black coat with white V-shaped stripe on the back ejecting a fetid order when attacked or alarmed.” They then sit down and the next person says ” I am skunk. I am looking for…..their definition on the back of their card.

I have also seen where the students when they are studying slavery the teacher will take away some of the rights for half of the class and not tell the students what she is doing to see their reactions. Give candy or praise to one group and not the other or make some group do all the handing out of the materials and picking up. In the end, she makes it right with the class but the reaction she first gets is what she is striving for and gets the students thinking. She will also have the students spend part of their time under their desk doing their work in cramped quarters like the slaves suffered on the boats. The size under the desk she says is comparable to the amount of space each person got on the slave ships. She does email or send a note home with the students telling the parents they will be studying slavery and she is going to be doing some activities with them so they get a feel for what it was like and opens the door for the parents to email her or come in

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Mandy On Thursday, March 8 at 11:53 am

I am not a teacher, nor a homeschooling parent or child, but I am a history major. The main reason I became a history major was because of my 8th grade teacher (mr. meisner, and I totally wrote him a letter thanking him for making it so awesome and inspiring me). He made every day (minus test of course) so fun. One thing we did at least once a month was jeopardy. We played this usually a few days or a week before tests or big projects were due. He made huge boards full of ‘answers’ and we had to answer in question form. It got everyone involved, kids love competition, and it was a good way for us to remember and review.

I also remember him having us sit around in a circle, and have an open discussion about whatever the topic was at the time, he would ask the first few questions to get the conversation going, but after that, the students would comment, or ask questions, or voice opinions. I think this was really nice because it breaks the routine of having someone lecture you, or you read a chapter, or whatever. When people discuss a topic, it is easier to retain the information and you can hear so many different views. By the end, we always had to discuss how and why that particular topic was important and relevant today. He always liked to emphasize that history repeats itself, and in order to know what is going on today, we have to know what happened before.

Other then that, I know classrooms are quite different now. I agree with all those who say to get on Pinterest. Its a great forum for people to share ideas. I have a few friends who are teachers who use it all the time, and I follow their boards and you can see all the fabulous ideas for teachers. Go pinning crazy, its fun and informative!

K On Saturday, March 10 at 8:43 am

Students like you are what make the teaching profession worthwhile!!!!

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Cindy K On Thursday, March 8 at 12:00 pm

Perhpas have them pick a moment in history they want to reinact. Some students can write the dialogue while others do the acting. Do costumes too!! I bet they will totally rise to the occasion.

I had an incredible history teacher in the 8th grade, in a wonderful public school: so much so that I still remember her clearly in my 30s! I remember that we worked hard on family history projects that year, talking to family members and charting our ancestors. My teacher, Mrs. McWhorter, had us create our own projects. A friend and I acted out a scene we made up between a British regular and a Continental soldier, to address the issues facing colonists during the Revolution. It was an absolute blast, and she gave us so much freedom.

I think, with the right prompts, kids can come up with some incredible projects on their own–if they have the freedom to zero in on what it is they’re most interested in.

Hope this helps!

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Amy On Thursday, March 8 at 12:10 pm

Genealogy: I wasn’t interested in history until I learned how it impacted my ancestors. For students who are unable to trace their roots, you could offer to let them research someone in your family. Or make a trip to a local cemetery and let students find a person buried there to research.

Inventions. Have students pick an invention and then report on how life was before the item was invented, how it made life easier at the time, and how it has changed since its debut. I believe you can search patents for free–some even have drawings. Example: Conveyor Belt – things had to be transported manually (buckets, shovels, etc); the conveyor belt helped move things in less time and improved efficiency; conveyor belts are used in manufacturing assembly lines, airport baggage claims, treadmills, ski lifts, etc.

Magazines/Newspapers. Have students create a “modern” magazine or newspaper with news from the time period you are studying. They can come out with a new “edition” for each unit you study. Include a mix of major events and cultural happenings. Have sections like today’s newspapers: Sports, Classifieds, Ads, Business, Politics, Religion, Science, Travel, Gossip, Fashion (whatever piques the interest of your students).

Speakers. Have experts come in and discuss local history or (for modern history) give their own account of what it was like to live through major events.

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Chris On Thursday, March 8 at 12:28 pm

Like Mandy, I am not a teacher but someone with two degrees in history. I chose to study history primarily because of two teachers – my 8th grade social studies teacher and a teacher that I had my senior year. They were two vastly different, but highly effective teachers and made history come alive. To this day I remember my 8th grade teacher standing on his desk pretending to be the Native Americans during a battle during the French and Indian War. He was a larger than life personality and it came out in his teaching. In my senior year, I had a very dapper man who taught Europe 1914 to present and American foreign policy. He would give these ridiculous extra credit questions, in the days before the internet, that had us all scrambling to come up with the answer. One particularly hard one was “what type of car was the Archduke Franz Ferdinand riding in when he was assassinated?”

After getting my graduate degree, I worked for a regional history center. One thing that I learned is that photographs and tangible items will engage everyone – even the person who thinks history is “boring.” My husband teaches as an adjunct at a local University from time-to-time and he loves when he hits the late 1800s and into the 1900s – he takes in CDs of early jazz to talk about music and culture, pieces of refridgeratorware (typically ceramic leftover dishes – pre-Tupperware!) to talk about the rise of consumer items like refridgerators and stoves, anything that can help illustrate a time period and make it come alive.

susan anthony On Thursday, March 8 at 12:38 pm

Bob, I have taught 8th grade US history in a public school for 15 years, please email me, I have many projects you can use in your classroom. All are aimed at the teacher with 36+ students and limited resources.
susan

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susan anthony On Thursday, March 8 at 12:40 pm

When I think of how you might make learning more “fun” for middle school kids, I think back to how I taught my kids when they were 7 and 8 (they are now 11 and 12). I also remember how BORING I found my 7th grade history class. Dry textbooks. Yuk! I don’t think I remember much from that class.

My two suggestions…..

1) SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK – dvd

One of our favorite tools was “School House Rock”, those wonderful animated vignettes about a wide variety of subjects. (Anyone over 40 will remember how they were substituted for commercials on those wonderful Saturday mornings when we got to watch cartoons.) Why not get one of those DVDs and use it as a means to teach your kids to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution? Or to learn about the “shot heard round the world?” I think they would crack up at the silliness of it and would embrace it. My kids have known the Preamble since they were really small and can still recite it (often in song).

How many kids today can do that – not many these days!

2) MEMORIZE THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

My 11 year old son just finished memorizing it – it took him about a week. It’s one of the greatest speaches in history and it’s not very long. My daughter had it down when she was 10. We offered each child $10 once they could recite it to us, but you might try a different incentive. Why not dedicate one class period to having each student recite the Gettysburg Address in front of the class? Tophat optional, but encouraged. Perhaps the class can vote on the classmate they felt put the most passion/authenticity into it and that student might receive a $5 gift certificate to Dairy Queen or iTunes or something?

Kuddos to you for your effort to make history more interesting to your students.

Good luck!
Laura

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Tammy On Thursday, March 8 at 1:03 pm

Having taught 7th and 8th grade history for many years, here are a few tips that I found worked in my classroom:

- I love the Joy Hakim American History set. She has a way of bringing the obscure to light and making history real and current – not just a set of names, dates, and places.
- Make the timeline of important events (include places) to line around your classroom. There are also some great songs that you could use along with this activity. I even had my students, as part of their evaluations, fill in missing parts of the timeline. Of course, you have to be creative in covering up the timeline in your classroom.
- My students loved it when I dressed up as a famous person in history, told them the rarely-shared facts about myself, and had them learn along with me about my character’s life, importance, etc. I found that if I could make something about the costume/character stand out, all I had to do in future discussions was reference that special thing and they all knew who I was talking about.
- Depending on what timeline you’re teaching (I taught from the discovery of North America through the 1960s – covered through the two grades), see if you can get your cooperating teachers involved and really bring a time period to life. For example, one of our favorites was doing the 1920s. Students got to invest in the stock market with the math teacher (and see what happened in 1929), learn the Charleston with the music teacher, send mail and telegraphs with the English teacher, go to “speak-easys” with another co-op, etc. We would spend about a week in this time period, really bringing it all to life. They LOVED it.
- I felt it was really important that my students understand the connections between all of the people and places. We were constantly referencing our maps, timeline (because then the events aren’t happening staticly, rather fluidly throughout history), and discussing how the people were connected. Joy Hakim does this really well.
- Music! Food! Clothing! Culture! Have time-period music playing when appropriate. Make hard tack, have them churn butter, let them see what an original Coca-Cola serving was. Find authentic or reproductions of clothing, or just print some out to share. Let them feel wool and ask what it would be like to fight the battle of Gettsburg in July wearing it.
- Let them interview the oldest person they know and have them ask questions about what life was like when they were their age, when they were younger, when they got married, had children, etc. Make the questions personal, and suggest that if they’re able they record the interview. I found this a great way to get around the geneology/family problem while embracing our older generations and making history alive.
- Teach that the best civilizations LEARN from their history – that’s why you’re teaching it, and that’s why they need to learn it. Only by knowing where we’ve been can we avoid the same mistakes and create a better future.

In general – it’s important to make things relevant and real. History is being made each day, and it’s not just about random people, dates, and places.

Best wishes to you and happy teaching!!

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JoMom On Thursday, March 8 at 1:07 pm

In 8th grade, when we studied the congressional congress, we were each assigned a representative (all 13 colonies were represented by 2 students each). We had to begin by writing a research paper, and then we spent a few weeks reenacting some of the more infamous debates.

1776 is a fun musical for that time period. Even schoolhouse rock songs could be integrated in some lessons.

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Margie On Thursday, March 8 at 1:10 pm

My son is in 8th grade this year. Right now they are studying the American Civil War. The class of 29 is divided into the Union and the Confederacy. Each half is further divided into troops (may not be the right word). In addition to studying the history and issues, they battle during verbal quizzes and arguments, learn songs from the time, wear a troop arm band, create troop flags, perform a marching pattern, write letters to family members using a dialect if appropriate. I wish I could remember everything else they are doing. The kids are awarded individual and team points. Last year the Confederacy won the war based on points. This year they have had an execution, and right now there are several students preparing to defect to the Confederacy after Friday’s march. It’s a very exciting time.

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Carol On Thursday, March 8 at 1:21 pm

Have them each design a quilt block to make a class quilt–could just be colorful ideas on paper hung on the wall to look like a quilt. Boys might want to design a toy that would have been played with and then make it without today’s tools. After each period of history studied have them “host” (on paper) a dinner party and invite 5 or 6 people they’ve studied. Have them say why they chose the individuals, what topics they think might be discussed and whether or not all would agree. If their “guests” wouldn’t all agree they can outline why not thereby showing an understanding of the thought and issues studied. If the topic is WWII show some of the old BW era films including newsreel features. Have a BigBand dance party. Always, always, always have maps up and show where things happened–why did they happen there and not another place? Most importantly have fun and encourage independent thinking!!

The other day my best friend and I were talking about a project her son had to do…he is in 8th grade….in his history class they had been researching presidents of the united states and learning about what different things they did for the world…so his teacher thought it would really get them all going if he assigned each student a president and they came to school dressed as that president, then they could not tell any of the other students who they were they class as a whole had to guess who they were then the child dressed as the president gave a report all about his or her president…they could bring props, ext to make it more interesting….this teacher said it was a big hit that the kids really got into how they could make themselves look like there president but not give it away to easy….and that the reports were amazingly informational…every one learned sooooo much and things no one would have ever thought of, like that George W Bush was a cheerleader in high school, so the child dressed as a cheerleader but with a boy wig on and everything…it was really cool…just a thought, hope this helps

also, i just thought about this but what about putting them in groups and letting them play a game, such as each group comes up with a history question they ask it out loud and which ever team gets the answer correct get a point, then at the end whoever is leading gets something, no homework, lunch from off campus, a free period the next day, ect…one of my teachers use to do this when i was in school and everyone loved it, i don’t think i ever have seen people get so involved and determind to win

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Heather Smith On Thursday, March 8 at 1:44 pm

When a friend and I taught the Civil War, we had each student invent a character – could be any age, any time-appropriate background, either side. They had to describe themselves, tell about their “family” and other things to make them seem real. Then as we studied the war, each of them kept a “journal” – assignments we would give for them to explain where their character was during a certain event, whether or not he/she participated and how it affected “their” family etc. As the unit wore on the student became more and more personally involved with their participation – they drew self portraits, commented on the loss of friends and family, and at the end some of them were very emotional to have ended up where they did, for good or bad. Finally they had to put their journal together (each entry had been an assignment which we graded and returned), and add some personal comments, pictures, items – anything The creativity that this stimulated was amazing….and they really learned a lot, in a personal way, about the Civil War.

My daughter researched out neighborhood. Actually the housing development in which we lived. The project involved oral histories from an original owner, a visit to the local historic society and ended with a presentation and history fair, much like a science fair.
My daughter is now 33 and living in London. I was cleaning the closet in her bedroom and found that display. It was a wonderful experience for both of us.

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Laurel Wilson On Thursday, March 8 at 2:13 pm

I suggest having them do an artifact study. I have my university students do one of an article of clothing but it could be anything. They go through the following steps: 1. description–write a complete description of the object. 2. compare-compare it to other like objects to determine quality, use, wear. 3. Use other sources to learn about it such as magazines, newspapers, internet, interviews, letters, photographs. 4. Interpret the meaning in the context of American culture. I have students working in pairs since that is an important part of life these days and they can find out a lot by collaborating on a topic..and I have only half as many papers to grade. They put together a flyer/brochure that includes all the steps about their object. Most students REALLY like this assignment.

I am going to recommend a fabulous resource for activities that can be long or short; can wind through a week or be packed into a short five minute gap… The Story of the World by Susan Wise Bauer is a series of four chapter books telling the Story of the world, from Ancient through to Modern times…. skip those unless you want to read them and head straight for the Activity Books that come for each book in the series. These are great big fat books that are absolutely packed with activities for each chapter of the book: Questions for review, suggestions for Orals and Essays, hands on activities like recipes, crafts, drama whatever… at the back of the book are printable – maps, pages to color for games, puppets and so on… My first kid didn’t need/want activities just wanted to read the book, but my second would never have learnt any history without the activities. They may not be American history only, but they do contain lots of American History – but obviously World History. The ideas in them are brilliant and you will be able to adapt them easily to your class. Hope that helps.

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amanda On Thursday, March 8 at 2:28 pm

In our US History class when we studied the industrial revolution and parts of the depression, we were assigned in groups and allowed to create a pretend company and product. We had to come up with marketing, and we had an imaginary stock market. (teacher decided the ups and downs of each company to create scenarios to respond to) This helped evaluate supply and demand, what your product is selling for and if you need to lowero or raise production. It was VERY neat!

I used to teach 7th and 8th grade and now I homeschool. I loved doing a spy unit. We read, “George Washington, Spymaster” then made masque letters and went spying through the halls. I also gave them an assignment to spy on someone (that wouldn’t mind) and write a short paper about what it felt like to spy.

For the Civil War I had my students draw their houses (the ones they lived in) with a special spot for hiding runaway slaves. That usually got them thinking.

I did a unit on the book “Lyddie” by Katherine Paterson about mill work, and the kids did a multi-project unit. One student made a really interesting movie about a mill girl who got her hair stuck in a machine. It was funny–and disturbing. We wrote poetry, we drew an advertisement for mill workers. We wrote a public health announcement about the dangers of mill work. Just lots of fun things.

I usually work totally around YA fiction. You might consider writing a grant to start a history library with a classroom set of various books. I did and I was able to purchase a classroom set of 10 novels. It was awesome. I was teaching 10th grade world history at the time so the book list wouldn’t be that helpful.

Good luck!

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N. Selleck On Thursday, March 8 at 3:10 pm

Have you heard of Dinah Zike? She has a series of books that highlight creative and entertaining 3-D organizers, manipulatives and foldables that not only help kids organize their notes, but also are fun and creative. She even has project books geared specifically toward history, geography and other social studies related subjects.

Check out the videos links on her site for schools who have used her program to see a variety of projects.

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Lisa D. On Thursday, March 8 at 3:18 pm

I think my son’s teacher should be listening in to this discussion! He’s in8th grade, so I asked him what things his teacher did to make class more interesting. Basically his answer was, “Nothing, it’s a good class, but not great one.”

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Lisa D. On Thursday, March 8 at 3:22 pm

p.s. A memorable thing from my 8th grade U.S. History class was that we had a day that we reinacted Ellis Island. Some people were the various workers and some were immigrants. It was very cool.

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Lisa from Plantation On Thursday, March 8 at 3:23 pm

I teach in a public Middle School and see the teachers use American History Alive textbooks. I also see that the students do an interactive notebook, where they draw pictures, take notes, explore maps, etc. Each child takes such pride in their notebooks, the keep them for quite a long time after.

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Megan On Thursday, March 8 at 3:24 pm

When I was in 8th grade, we had some fun projects. Different groups were assigned a decade from the 19th century and we had to create a poster and put the most important facts on it (dates, inventions, people, wars, music, events, etc). Then they were all posted and everyone in every class voted for their favorite. My group won; we had the 50s and our Elvis in a poodle skirt rocked it!

We also had to pick a country from which our ancestors originated and had to do a poster about that. We also had to make a dish from that country and we had a giant potluck/tasting

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tammy gregory On Thursday, March 8 at 3:40 pm

I am homeschooling my son & he is in 8th grade. Needless to say, History is NOT his favorite subject. I actually chose to do World Geography instead of history this year because, it was my favorite subject in school, & he has been drowned in US History for the past 4 years! But Geography drives him crazy too, so I’ve had to be creative. We do maps a lot. Even with doing US History, you could have map handouts based on the lesson, for example, if you’re doing the Civil War, give them a map to label showing where the different battles were. I used to love labeling & coloring maps! Use your location as a reference point. I’m in Ohio also, so there is A LOT of US history that happened right here in our backyard! Make it more personal to the kids by letting them know where it was in relation to their location. Another thing my son likes to do is acting. Have your class act out historical events! Have them dress up as the characters & have fun! I also will sometimes read the lessons myself in silly dramatic voices. My son thinks I’m nuts, but he enjoys it & darned if he doesn’t remember the info when I give him his tests! The more they participate in the history themselves, the more fun it will be & the will remember it!

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Entertaining Women On Thursday, March 8 at 7:02 pm

You asked about craft projects. I once had my students create and design their own board games based on a unit that we were studying. They had a ball, and some of the games were quite ingenious.

What if they designed and created their own flags to honor…the armed services…an historic event pertinent to one of your units…special moments, events, people, etc. in your local community. They could be displayed around the ceiling in your class room…or perhaps you could have a flag raising ceremony during which each student gives an oral presentation explaining his/her flag.

How about a photography assignment? If needed, you could have them use disposable cameras. Perhaps you could invite a local photographer to come in and give them some beginning instruction on using a camera. You could send them on a political science related photographic scavenger hunt. Perhaps a local business would donate a good point and shoot camera as a prize for the winner…you could definitely turn it into a competition. The students could create a scrap book of the photos that they submit. You could enlarge some of the better photos to display in the room.

The students could each create a fabric square to be incorporated into a quilt themed on one of your units. Perhaps someone could come in to give them beginning instruction on quilting, and they could actually construct their own quilt. Have you ever seen a teeshirt quilt or a blue jeans quilt?…two possibilities that might be incorporated into the idea. Hope that this acts as a springboard for you. Good luck! Cherry Kay

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Loretto On Thursday, March 8 at 7:04 pm

When I was in 8th grade we studied North Carolina history. We made a salt clay map of the state that covered an entire 6′ long folding table, let it dry and painted it. It had all the hills and lakes and such and was great fun. You can write all the counties, rivers, mountains, and cities on it and place little flags on pins where historical battles or events took place. We also made scrapbooks of the other states and each student picked one state to report on. I wrote chamber of commerces and was sent lots of information. One very accomodating lady sent me a little bottle of sand, shells and sea water from the beach! I blush now to think that I asked that sweet lady to do that but she did it and it added to my report! Later we did scrapbooks of other countries and I picked France and had great fun writing famous people and getting back letters and signed pictures from them. That was many years ago when there was no such thing as the Internet! But I still remember it foundly. And history has been a great love of mine ever since. In fact my oldest two children are history/political science professors! That little salt clay map paid some big dividends.

Check out the Center for Civic Education website… AWESOME!
I am currently completing my last semester of classes in elementary education. I went back for a second degree many years after receiving my first degree. My boys are all in school and I have discovered, while being a Para-eduactor, that my passion is teaching.
I am writing a lesson plan right now that involves the students making a human timeline of the events leading up the the Revolutionary War.
Exciting stuff!
How about a Power Point Presentation Jeopardy game on the same topic or something different. Team the students up by something silly such as shoelace color or favorite animal (dog or cat)… Then the teams can compete against each other in the Jeopardy game.
Or allow the students to collaborate with a couple of peers and create a Comic Life on a historical figure.

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Staci On Thursday, March 8 at 7:23 pm

Evan-Moor is a publisher who creates things for classroom use. They have FANTASTIC unit studies I love to use. They are called Pocket-Books and offer crafts and kind of scrapbooking activites that highlight important things in history.

My son is in 8th grade American history this year and the best thing they’ve done is to pick a person in the revolution and do a project on them. My son was able to put together a website all about Thomas Paine. He learned so much and didn’t mind doing so much because he was building his own website. It was lots of fun to watch him do it.

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Steffi S On Thursday, March 8 at 7:37 pm

One project and one piece of advice.

Project: When I taught the 8th grade, I did a project where the kids visited national parks on a “road trip” (obviously make-believe trip). They chose about 15 places to visit cross-country and created a scrapbook of their trip. It had to be planned out, including travel time, etc. Each entry needed pictures, a journal log of the event, a reason it was chosen and a brief contextual explanation (where it fits in US history). We had a pretty good time with that one.

Advice: Get them to present. Do short projects, group projects, reports, etc., but presenting what they have done/learned/covered is such a valuable skill. I believe it may be the most important thing I teach. PLUS, it’s a nice break to the “classroom” routine.

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Beth McCarthy On Thursday, March 8 at 8:11 pm

I haven’t read the other posts so this may have already been posted…. my friend used to teach the Civil War and would come in early to the class one day and DESTROY the classroom- tip the desks, throw papers and trash around, etc… She would walk into class right as the bell rang or while the students walked in and exclaim about the mess and begin to pick up. Usually, the students would feel bad and help. Then, as they sit, she would begin to discuss how the south was left physically destroyed and how the nation came together to help rebuild it. Personally, I have had the students teach a section and they LOVE it. (This is great before a break like Christmas) They have a topic assigned and can create a powerpoint, quiz, worksheet, whatever they desire. Lastly, my class loves timelines and collages…..they make great classroom decoration, too! (p.s. I haven’t seen it, but I have only heard WONDERFUL things about the John Adams documentary) oh…also go to teachingtolerance.org for lots of free goodies!

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Patricia On Thursday, March 8 at 9:11 pm

Not sure if this has been suggested or not, but I teach art at a middle school & notice that the 8th graders love their U.S. History class because they get to have mock elections & debates…they love it! What 8th grader doesn’t like to “argue” lol! Good Luck!!

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Karen On Thursday, March 8 at 9:36 pm

I taught 8th grade U.S. History for years (retired now) and have several suggestions: Teacher’s Curriculum Institute TCI has wonderful curriculum units based on Experiential learning. Fabulous! Interact has units for various topics in U..S. history. Their Civil War and Patriots (Revolutionary War) are exceptional. As an example, they suggest recreating Pickett’s Charge from the Battle of Gettysburg. They have a complete script. What I did to make it even more fun, was use water balloons as ammunition and water balloon launchers for cannons! The kids loved it. I did require in order to participate that the students maintained a C average with no discipline referrals. We had almost 100% participation and the kids learned so much! I divided the classroom into north and south based on similar proportional numbers to the number of soldiers on each side. Students learned military life by being members of regiments. I could go on and on, but the experience was wonderful and to this day I still receive emails from students I had years ago telling me how much they loved history. Hope this helps!

Cori On Friday, March 9 at 11:24 am

I had a teacher in high school push all the desks together and had us lay underneath. We had to cram together like sardines. He then walked on the desks and banged, stomped and yelled at us. We didn’t know at the time that we were going to study slavery. It was quite powerful and he had our attention. I’m a big believer in engaging all the senses when studying history. I have made historical recipes, brought my family artifacts (quilts, furniture, pictures, clothing etc.) to schools for presentations, read historical fiction because it does a better job of describing what it was like to live during that time rather than learning boring facts. We pretended to live during that time and made scrapbooks of our lives while pretending to finish school, get married, we rolled the dice to see how many kids to have, we wrote to pretend soldiers (choosing if he would be a father, brother, or husband) during the World War, etc. I try to talk about what kids at that age would be doing each day through out the year compared to what their lives are like now. What skills they would know and the responsibility they would have. It’s quite eye opening for the kids and usually this alone helps them pay attention throughout the unit particularly if we keep going back to “What would you be doing during this time period? What would you be eating? Wearing? Where would you be sleeping? Would you have been safe? etc.

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Marcy On Thursday, March 8 at 10:42 pm

Great question and so many fantastic ideas!

I have found that kids of all ages love to be read to. There are so many wonderful Historical Fiction works with American History settings. (One of my favorites is Johnny Tremain.) I always give the kids something to do while I read to them. My students have made embroidery samplers, hand sewn quilts, paper dolls with period clothes, home-made board games, etc. Boys and girls alike. As important topics or historical events pop up I assign short research reports and have them “teach” on them in the next class.

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laurah On Friday, March 9 at 11:11 am

National History Day or Project Citizen projects that can be on display for the whole community when finished.

Our 8th grade social studies class has a speaker come in every week (Friday) to talk about a place they visited or lived with souvenirs or pictures to show. The teacher knows who is coming in and the location they are talking about giving the kids time before the speaker comes in to research the location and come up with good questions for the speaker. This has been a fun time for not only the kids but the speaker.

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Jen B On Friday, March 9 at 11:52 am

If you have any national parks nearby, your students could complete a Junior Ranger project:

When we travel, we stop at the national parks (another hint: if anyone in your family is disabled, they qualify for an “access pass” that’s good at all National Parks and enables you to get into the park without paying admission for your party), and my kids do the Junior Ranger activities. Some of those materials might be available and useable in the classroom as well.

My husband used to teach 8th grade U.S. History. He always had the kids doing fun projects and foldables and things. They really enjoyed it. He teaches seniors in high school now, and they still love that stuff. LOL I can put you in touch with him, if you like. He likes to share because he loves his work so much. Here is the email address we don’t mind sharing with the general public (hehe). [email protected]

Drop me a line, and I’ll have him get back to you.

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Krystle On Friday, March 9 at 6:22 pm

Check out this site! rileysfarm.com. I know that it is a little far for you to travel to but you can look at what activities they offer on their field trips and modify them for your classroom. Lot’s of fun hands on adventures. We get a lot of 8th grade class as well as 5th grade so they should enjoy it.

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Krystle On Friday, March 9 at 6:25 pm

Oh! And a fun project is having them work in groups to create their own Civil War Monopoly game, with instructions. Give them a list of events, place, and people that have to be used in some way or another. Then for grading purposes have the groups swap games and actually play them…. see if they were playable, were the time lines accurate, did the directions make sense…

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Jennifer On Saturday, March 10 at 2:43 am

I love to use http://www.youtube.com/user/historyteachers#p/u they have many different videos. They take popular songs and put new lyrics to them. They teach a history lesson in each one. My daughters and I enjoy them. I think it would be so much fun for a class to make their own music video and lyrics.

There are lots of song parodies online which have historical timelines. The first one that comes to mind is A Bad Romance rendition of the Women’s Sufferage. They have awesome lyrics and they can watch the music video free on YouTube. The point is mainly to make history fun for kids. Your students might really like them and you would see way cooler with all those pop culture references.

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lynne moore On Sunday, March 11 at 4:49 pm

The things that interested me and my kids over time were when they were able to research and learn about daily details or other things that seemed more trivial. Learning about inventions of a partiular time and how it changed social and political views. Or the ideas of making up a character and what they would be like, doing, eating, etc. This always seemed more interesting that learning about an actual historical figure.
Some time ago, I was visitng San Jose, CA and had the opportunity to tour 2 historical houses downtown. (I don’t remember exactly where now.) They were with in view of each other and one is an adobe house with no running water. The other was a mansion with indoor plumbing and servants, etc. They were both occupied at the same time. I found that fascinating and the details of how each family went about their day – even being so different, yet close to each other. That was the kinds of things I wish I would have learned in school to help me remember history.

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Debbie On Monday, March 12 at 7:21 pm

Hi,
You will want to check out the web site for the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The museum has many lesson plans on line for teachers who may not be able to visit the museum. The link below will also connect you to a fun project called Exhibit Builder and also to a web site OnInnovation. The digikits are also worth a look.http://www.thehenryford.org/education/index.aspx

Find the Pioneer Woman on:

Charlie has a brand new children's book out, and it's all about the day a new calf comes into the world! She sleeps in Charlie's bed, hogs all the attention...and hilarity ensues. Hope you and your kiddos enjoy the book!